This invention relates generally to aircraft cockpit displays and more particularly, to methods and systems for displaying messages from a plurality of different sources on aircraft cockpit displays.
At least some known aircraft include cockpit displays. Since the introduction of the 767 in the early 1980s, modern transport category airplanes, and more recently private business airplanes, typically have three types of display panels in the flight deck, a Primary Flight Display (PFD) that Provides attitude, altitude, speed and other flight path information in text and graphic format, a Navigation Display (ND) that provides graphical display of the aircraft's airspace, terrain and weather environment, with the desired and actual flight path, and an Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System (EICAS) that provides the status of airplane systems in graphic and text format, and provides crew messages to annunciate non-normal conditions.
Such displays are generally developed to meet airplane manufacturer specification requirements. Each display is driven by a software package which generates all the graphic images including alpha-numeric characters. This software is typically proprietary to the display supplier, and is created and owned by the supplier. During development and certification, and throughout the life of the airplane, any changes to the display software can only be made by the supplier. Because of the system architecture, even a minor change to the display, such as adding a text message, requires extensive testing of the software, flight testing and recertification by a regulatory body such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Such testing and recertification can cost several hundred thousand dollars, and can require many months to complete.
As the modern flight deck evolves, new features are proposed that improve flight safety and/or enhance the efficiency of flight operations. These features often involve new messages that must be displayed on EICAS, PFD, or ND. Because the cost and schedule impact of changes is prohibitive, new features which are recommended for incorporation into the flight deck displays must typically wait until some new derivative model of the airplane is being developed which requires changes to the display software. In many cases desirable features are never incorporated because of cost and schedule considerations. A major factor in the prohibitive costs and schedules associated with these changes is that the software and associated hardware that drives these displays is owned and controlled by the display suppliers, not by the airplane manufacturer.